"Mr. Archer being of so reserved a character, I had to _find out_ where everything was, and my search has been amongst different things. I need not tell you that I hope this dirty enclosure will be taken care of. "The paper pulp occupied much time; in fact, notes were only made of articles which had been much tried, which might probably be brought into use.--I am, sir, yours faithfully, "_J. Hogg, Esq._ F. G. Archer." If the foregoing is not evidence sufficient, I have by me a very good _glass positive_ of Hever Castle, Kent, which was taken in the spring of 1849, and two collodion negatives made by Mr. Archer in the autumn of 1848; and these dates are all vouched for by Mr. Jabez Hogg, who was Mr. Archer's medical attendant and friend, and knew him long before he began his experiments with collodion--whereas I cannot find a trace even of the _suggestion_ of the application of collodion in the practice of photography either by Gustave Le Gray or J. R. Bingham prior to 1849; while Mr. Archer's note-book proves that he was not only iodizing collodion at that date, but making experiments with paper pulp and _gelatine_; so that Mr. Archer was not only the inventor of the collodion process, but was on the track of its destroyer even at that early date. He also published his method of bleaching positives and intensifying negatives with bichloride of mercury. Frederick Scott Archer was born at Bishop Stortford in 1813, but there is little known of his early life, and what little there is I will allow Mrs. Archer to tell in her own way. "Dear Sir,--I do not know whether the enclosed is what you require; if not, be kind enough to let me know, and I must try to supply you with something better. I thought you merely required particulars relating to photography. Otherwise Mr. Archer's career was a singular one: Losing his parents in childhood, he lived in a world of his own; I think you know he was apprenticed to a bullion dealer in the city, where the most beautiful antique gems and coins of all nations being constantly before him, gave him the desire to model the figures, and led him to the study of numismatics. He worked so hard at nights at these pursuits that his master gave up the last two years of his time to save his life. He only requested him to be on the premises, on account of his extreme confidence in him. "Many other peculiarities I could mention, but I dare say you know them already. "I will send a small case to you, containing some early specimens and gutta-percha negatives, with a copy of Mr. A.'s portrait, which I found on leaving Great Russell Street, and have had several printed from it. It is not a good photograph, but I think you will consider it a likeness. I am, yours faithfully, "_J. Hogg, Esq._ F. G. Archer."